The present invention relates to a tool for straightening panels, and specifically metal panels associated with vehicle autobodies. Such panels often become dented during automobile accidents. The most common practice in most auto body repair shops is to dispose of a panel that has any significant damage. One of the reasons for this wasteful practice is that the labor required to repair a dented panel often approaches or even exceeds the cost of a new, replacement panel. Also, the repaired panel often doesn't meet the customer's demand that the straightened panel look as good as new. The main problem associated with repairing a dented panel has been the lack of an efficient tool for assisting the autobody worker. Most tools used by autobody workers have been either rudimentary manual tools, such as hammers or mallets for pounding out the dents, or have been overly complicated tools that use non-conventional methods for pulling a dent from a panel.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,930,335, 4,116,035 and 4,026,139 to Ishihara, Malarsky and Glaser, respectively, show representative prior an tools with various linkages to pull a dent upwardly that are more complicated than rudimentary manual tools. These tools have not been widely used within the field of autobody repair work. A combination of tools, marketed under the name of Dent Fix, uses a welding gun to solder metal studs to the dented surface to be subsequently pulled by a manual slide hammer.